Rod Macaskill
I joined Union Castle as a junior engineer officer in '59. Not because I wanted
to make a career of it but in order to avoid National Service (the draft)
in the army. I actually received my call-up papers and sent them back! I sailed
on the Stirling Castle and the Cape Town Castle. They were both motor ships
(diesel, with huge piston engines) and absolute nightmares to work on. I clearly
remember coming out of the generator room (where juniors worked, outward bound)
to cool off under the blowers in the main engine room where it was only 105degF.
In the generator room it sometimes touched 140deg!! Homeward bound we worked
on the freezers. All Mailboats carried a large amount of chilled fruit and
frozen meat back from the Cape. This was much better!

In 1960 I was one of a party of engineers and deck officers who were sent
to Camell Laird at Birkenhead for the final fitting out and sea trials of
the Windsor. That was really great and we all had a marvellous time. We stayed
at a hotel for a couple of weeks and then on the ship. We took it out for
the sea trials and the proving runs
up and down the measured mile, off the Clyde. There were lots of 'big-wigs'
on board and the food was unbelievable. I was having pheasant and caviar (for
the first time) every day until I got sick of it!!

The plan was to return to Mersey to pick up more knobs and then have a 'shakedown'
cruise around the British Isles and finish up at Southampton. This was abandoned
as there was a union dispute in the docks and they didn't want the ship to
get trapped there and miss its maiden departure date. We left Southampton,
as always, at 4pm on Thursday. The date escapes me, but it must have been
mid '60. I do still have a passenger list somewhere, I must dig it out sometime.
The maiden voyage was fantastic, especially when we reached the Cape. Partying
all the way. And how!!

Everyone connected to this ship, those who built it, crewed it, were passengers
on it, were so proud of it. The thought of it tied up in some Greek backwater,
named after a cocktail, going rusty, is so sad. It will not be sold for cruising
as it could not compete with the gin palaces they are building today. It will
go for scrap, killed by the
jumbo jet, a symbol of much, much better days (IMHO).

I'll continue with the
awful 2nd trip.

We were tied up at that long jetty in Las Palmas. I was on the 8-12 watch
and was in my bunk when, around 5am, all hell broke loose. Bells were ringing,
alarms were sounding, people were running in all directions.
Complete pandemonium. The Cape Town Castle, homeward bound, was manoeuvring
to get in the harbour (though, as I recall it was not a harbour, more just
a long jetty) when there was a catastrophic engine-room explosion followed
by a massive fire. A party of engineer and deck officers and ratings were
sent from our ship to the Cape Town with firefighting equipment to tackle
the fire and transfer the passengers. Fortunately I was not sent with them.
I had sailed on the Cape Town before, this was its second trip after I had
left it and joined the Windsor. Had I not been transferred I would undoubtedly
have been in the engine-room when it happened. I don't think anyone survived
in the engine or generator rooms. Certainly 6 engineers and 2 ratings were
killed. I can only now remember the chief engineer, Chief Logan, a terrifying
Scot, about 5'6'' and 250lbs who could
knock you over with a verbal blast at 25 yards. Everyone was scared rigid
by him. Despite appalling injuries and being on fire he insisted in making
the engine-room safe before getting on a stretcher. He died later.
All the passengers were safely transferred to the Windsor and then to hotels
while we left on time.

I will never forget us passing the stricken Cape Town, about a quarter mile
off the jetty, listing at about 45 degrees with lots of its paintwork blackened.
The list was caused by the amount of water pumped on board to
put out the fire and its own pumps could now not pump the water out as they
had no power.

We were all under a cloud for the rest of the trip and as National Service
had ended, when we returned I left the company. Once again I cannot recall
the exact date of this event but I am sure it was in October 1960.

As an Assistant Purser
with Union-Castle in the 60s I joined the Windsor Castle in Cape Town in 1967.
I transferred from the Edinburgh Castle that arrived southbound the same morning
at 6am and sailed for Southampton that afternoon at 4pm - my shortest stay
ever in the Cape. I then stayed on for the full round trip to Durban the next
voyage before leaving to join the Reina Del Mar.

I still have some memorabilia
from the ship and the Line and remember clearly trying to paint the hull of
a model sailing ship, wedged in my cabin as we sailed around the Cape of Good
Hope in a force 9 storm. Once I had started I had to finish, as I had mixed
the paint colour with the last of my supplies. Even with stabilizers, she
rolled and pitched pretty well when she wanted to. That same paint set was
misused by the 3rd Officer one night to "repaint" the funnel of an east coast
passenger ship entering Dar Es Salaam in a famous print used by the Line as
a poster. Being from the Clan Line, he changed the funnel to black with two
red hoops. I still have that poster above my bed, with its mismatched funnel.
I also have many other memories of Windsor Castle and the other five of the
fleet I served on before returning to shore for a proper career. Great days
and great memories.